Bahrain acquits officer on charges of torturing a journalist

New York, October
24, 2012--CPJ is alarmed by a Bahraini court's acquittal of a police officer
accused of torturing a journalist in custody in 2011.

A criminal
court in Manama on Monday acquitted police officer Sara al-Moussa on charges of
torturing Nazeeha Saeed, a reporter for France24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya,
while the journalist was in custody in May 2011, according to the official Bahrain
News Agency
(BNA). The agency reported that the court ruled that Saeed's testimony was full
of "contradictions" and not "consistent." Saeed told CPJ that she and her
lawyer are urging prosecutors to reopen the case.

Police arrested
Saeed while she was covering anti-government protests in the capital on May 22,
2011, according to news reports. Saeed
told CPJ that during her 13-hour detention, al-Moussa and the other officers
blindfolded her, beat her repeatedly with a hose, pulled her hair, slapped her
in the face, dunked her head in a toilet, kicked her, and forced her to sign
papers she was not allowed to read. The journalist, who was later examined by a
doctor, submitted several medical reports to the court proving she had
sustained bruises from the incident, she said.

Saeed told CPJ that the government had not taken any serious steps to
investigate the case for several months. In January 2012, she filed her own complaint against al-Moussa, three other female police officers, and one male officer on torture accusations, news
reports said. The court only tried al-Moussa, according to news reports.
The officer's trial began on June 6 and the verdict was reached on Monday,
after five months of legal back-and-forth,
the reports said. No action has been taken against the other four police
members, news reports said.

Last year,
Saeed was a witness in the trial of two police officers who were charged with killing
two protesters, news reports said. The officers were acquitted in September,
the reports said.

"Bahrain's
failure over the past 20 months to fully investigate attacks against
journalists covering protests and prosecute those responsible calls into
question the verdict of this court," said CPJ Deputy Director Rob Mahoney.
"Prosecutors should not let this case rest. Nazeeha Saeed deserves justice."

CPJ research
shows that since February 2011, independent and opposition journalists in
Bahrain have endured the worst conditions since King Hamad bin Issa
al-Khalifa assumed the throne in 1999. CPJ has documented three journalist deaths, including a shooting death in
April; dozens of detentions; arbitrary deportations; government-sponsored
billboards and advertisements smearing journalists; and numerous physical
assaults. In April, authorities denied CPJ
and several other press freedom and free expression groups visas to enter
Bahrain.